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    GEA16092 Aluminum CaseStudy

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    PankajSinghBhati
    The document discusses a case study of process improvements and controls upgrades at an aluminum manufacturer's plant that increased productivity and profitability. The upgrades included digital drive control, digital controllers, and increased line speed by 50%, which resulted in estimated annual profit increase of nearly $1.5 million and payback on the $750K investment within six months.

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    GEA16092 Aluminum CaseStudy

    Uploaded by

    PankajSinghBhati
    101 views2 pages
    The document discusses a case study of process improvements and controls upgrades at an aluminum manufacturer's plant that increased productivity and profitability. The upgrades included digital drive control, digital controllers, and increased line speed by 50%, which resulted in estimated annual profit increase of nearly $1.5 million and payback on the $750K investment within six months.

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    The document discusses a case study of process improvements and controls upgrades at an aluminum manufacturer's plant that increased productivity and profitability. The upgrades included digital drive control, digital controllers, and increased line speed by 50%, which resulted in estimated annual profit increase of nearly $1.5 million and payback on the $750K investment within six months.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    101 views2 pages

    GEA16092 Aluminum CaseStudy

    Uploaded by

    PankajSinghBhati
    The document discusses a case study of process improvements and controls upgrades at an aluminum manufacturer's plant that increased productivity and profitability. The upgrades included digital drive control, digital controllers, and increased line speed by 50%, which resulted in estimated annual profit increase of nearly $1.5 million and payback on the $750K investment within six months.

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    case study

    GE
    Energy
    Aluminum Manufacturer Productivity Increase

    Process improvements and controls upgrades improve reliability and profitability


    at one of the industrys largest North American facilities

    Results

    Greater Productivity with Lower Material Cost

    Improved profitability

    The original need to increase tension level line


    productivity results in wide-ranging process
    improvements for higher profitability

    Estimated profit increase of nearly $1.5 million annually


    Customer payback on $750K investment in six months

    A leading manufacturer of common-alloy aluminum sheet from


    Upgraded controls and improved diagnostics

    recycled metal, with advanced technology mills operating across

    Upgraded DC power bridges to digital drive control

    the U.S., provides a variety of alloys and products for diverse

    Upgraded analog control to digital controller platform

    industriesincluding metal distribution, transportation, building


    and construction, and consumer durables. As an industry leader

    Reduced the electrical maintenance

    in manufacturing superior quality coated aluminum products, the

    Improved operator set-up and line diagnostics

    company operates coating lines at some of its plantsincluding


    its showcase plant, which is one of the largest such facilities in

    Increased tension level line productivity


    Increased line speed by 50%

    the U.S.
    It was at this U.S. facility that the company began experiencing a

    Increased electrical reliability

    number of product returns due to off-flat material. The aluminum

    Decreased scrap from off-flat material

    manufacturer identified a need to increase their tension level line


    productivityand to reduce the number of off-flat returns from

    Reduced material requirements by 129 feet per coil

    their customers.

    case study
    Responding to the query from the aluminum plants Finishing
    Electrical Engineer, the GE Drives and Controls Field Engineering
    team was able to conduct a productivity study that determined a
    range of process improvements GE could provide to the plant.
    Working closely with the customers engineering and production
    teams, GE proposed a controls upgrade that could increase line
    speed, improve reliability, reduce scrap, and improve the drive
    systems limited diagnostics.

    Installation in Just Ten Days


    By implementing the project in stagesa pre-work phase and a
    system-conversion phase, GEs Drives and Controls field engineers
    were able to complete the upgrade within a ten-day outage time.
    GEs team of specialists upgraded the aluminum sheet manufacturers existing Siltrol+ power bridges to DC-2000 controls and
    upgraded the GE Directomatic II analog control to a GE Innovation
    controller. These upgrades resulted in dramatic improvements,
    including:
    Increased yields. Tension level line speed was increased by

    Extending the Life Cycle and Reducing


    Maintenance

    50%, allowing the number of aluminum coils produced to rise

    In addition to extending the life cycle of the Siltrol+ drives, the

    from 17 to 20 coils per shift. This resulted in a total increase of

    upgraded equipment eliminated the need for difficult-to-obtain

    3000 coils per year for a profit of $1.3M.

    spare partssuch as analog drive/control printed circuit cards,

    Increased productivity. GEs new strip transport technology


    included auto payoff reel stop and digital elongation control
    yielding material savings of 120 feet per coil for additional savings of $200K.
    Increased quality. The new process greatly improved the quality

    field terminal board assemblies and field exciters.

    Payback in Six Months


    Within six months of GEs project completion at this mill, the plant
    was able to achieve payback of their $750K investment. Since
    completion of the project, the tension level line is continuing to

    of the end productresulting in fewer customer complaints,

    operate with the high reliability required by the customer, and

    returns, and business that otherwise might have been lost due

    occasional routine service is provided by GE.

    to off-flat material.

    Along with this successful installation, GE has worked closely with


    the customer to complete several additional projects in the same
    area of this plant.

    For more information about GE Industrial Services and our


    Drives and Controls offerings, contact your GE representative.

    2008 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


    GEA-16092 (06/08)

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